As I'm sure you have heard, there are big changes going on in the real estate world. The National Association of Realtors settlement a huge lawsuit and agreed to change the rules for Multiple Listing Services. In the short term, we don't expect commission rates to change much, but the long term is uncertain. We are noticing that the changes vary dramatically depending on what State your property is in. At this point, we think the changes will make flat fee MLS listings an even better option for sellers.
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The statistics are compiled!
BuySelf sellers are 16% more likely to sell their home, when compared to other well know flat fee MLS listing services.
BuySelf sellers sell faster, also. BuySelf listings are on the market for 19 fewer days than other flat fee MLS home sellers. For the past 2 years, the BuySelf average seller sold in 32 days--19 days faster than the other large flat fee MLS services (in the studied markets-2018-2019).
The National Bureau of Economic Research published a joint study by Stanford and Texas A&M University about selling a home. This study took a detailed look of the pros and cons of a home seller using a self MLS listing for a flat fee versus a traditional agency.
Here is the executive summary, which finds that home sellers "net" less money when they use a traditional agent.
Pros of FHA and VA mortgages:
FHA and VA mortgage loans are for buyers with less cash available for their down payment. This enables many more people to buy a home than otherwise would be capable. More buyers to consider your property is good thing in general, but for some sellers considering FHA/VA offers may not be best for their specific situation. FHA is perhaps the most popular and effective government program ever to encourage home ownership, with a long history of success. However, the program can have drawbacks.
As you may have noticed, we have been blogging MORE often, but on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/MLSFlatFee) instead of here. We will continue to post the occasional blog piece here, but we encourage you to like or follow us on Facebook for more updates, and as a bonus they take LESS time to read!
Many flat fee home sellers have a difficult time deciding whether the cost of a professional photographer is worth it. We recently received photos from a seller that were not the best, to put it politely. Fortunately, the seller took our advice and spent the typical $150 for professional photography. The transformation was breathtaking. Since a picture is worth 1,000 words, we will share fewer words and just let the amateur versus professional pictures stand side by side and let you be the judge:
Amateur Real Estate Photographer:
Be careful if you are tempted to try a website that is cheaper than our service. Flat Fee MLS is more expensive if you aren't successful—you don't save money. Here are some elements you do not receive with most other flat fee MLS websites, that substantially reduce your chances of success:
Thank you to all the customers who liked our service so much that they reviewed our service. We are proud to announce that we received our 100th review on Google. We have actually been reviewed by well over 100 flat fee home sellers previously, but we lost over 40 reviews when Yahoo decided to sell its review section to a paid review vendor. Unfortunately, that review vendor immediately deleted all the old yahoo reviews when they took over in 2016.
Back in our 5th year of business (2002) we became concerned because we saw lots of sketchy flat fee MLS listing websites popping up. Dissatisfied customers of those websites often called us to ask for help and wondered who they could complain to. We noticed many of those websites getting bad grades by the Better Business Bureau.
It is with a heavy heart that we are letting everyone know that our beloved team member Jesse Wallace passed away unexpectedly last week. We are very much in shock at this news, as is his family. His family has requested prayer during this difficult time.